How to Make Holly in 6 Easy Steps

In numerous civilizations, holly is a traditional Christmas ornament used in wreaths and as decorations. With red and green being the traditional Christmas colors, these pieces cheerfully brighten up any setting. What would the holidays be without the crisp combination of prickly green leaves adorned with brilliant red berries?

These green leaves and bright red fruit can liven up any project. It can be made and worn as a pin, or added to other pieces and formed into priceless artwork. There is such a variety of fusible glass on the market to choose from. From the dazzling colors of dichroic glass to the simple clean look of solid colors, these pieces can obtain a unique flavor all of their own.

So, what are the easy 6 steps to make these gems? First let’s look at the material list.

1. Make your pattern and cut your glass. Be sure that you make your pattern out of a material that you can use over and over, because you are going to want to make several of these pieces.

2. Assemble your pieces. You place one, two or three leaves together and add the berries. Be sure that all of your pieces are overlapping so that they fuse together.

3. Place your pieces inside the kiln on the prepared kiln shelf.

4. Turn on your kiln and allow it to heat up as fast as possible to approximately 1325 degrees Fahrenheit. Use your glasses to view inside the kiln until your pieces have reached your desired look.

5. Turn off the kiln and allow it to cool naturally. If your kiln has dense fire bricks and cools down slowly you are able to turn it off and allow it cool down to room temp. If it's a ceramic fiber kiln you'll have to cool down at a pace not faster than about 300 degrees per hour. Do not open the lid until the temperature reads below 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

6. Glue on a pin back, or arrange your pieces on another piece of glass and slump into a mold.

Making fused glass Christmas decorations such as fused holly is fun and easy to accomplish. These fused glass ornaments can also be made to hang on your tree. These are just one of many projects you can make to have a fused glass Christmas.

If you enjoy making fused glass Christmas decorations, please check out the page on
fused glass Christmas
. Each page has instructions and a pattern to help you make the specific pin or ornament.

Here is the pattern for making the distinctive leaves. You can also cut out the circles, but they will not pull up evenly and make the round globs that you might desire.